HYMN FOR PENTECOST 24 Wake, Awake, The Trumpet shall Sound
Text and Tune: Philip Nicolai (1566-1608)
1. "Wake, awake, for night is flying,"
The watchmen on the heights are crying;
"Awake, Jerusalem, arise!"
Midnight hears the welcome voices
And at the thrilling cry rejoices:
"Where are the virgins pure and wise?
The Bridegroom comes: Awake!
Your lamps with gladness take!
Alleluia!
With bridal care and faith's bold prayer,
To meet the Bridegroom, come, prepare!"
2. Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And in her heart new joy is springing.
She wakes, she rises from her gloom.
For her Lord comes down all-glorious
And strong in grace, in truth victorious.
Her star is risen, her light is come!
Now come, O Blessed One,
Lord Jesus, God's own Son.
Sing hosanna!
We answer all in joy your call;
We follow to the wedding hall.
3. Lamb of God, the heavens adore you,
The saints and angels sing before you
With harp and cymbals' clearest tone.
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where, joining with the choir immortal,
We gather round your radiant throne.
No eye has seen that light,
No ear the echoed might
Of your glory;
Yet there shall we in victory
Sing shouts of joy eternally!
Tr. Catherine Winkworth
REFLECTION
The ten bridesmaids is a parable of warning we all understand: Be prepared! Sort of like pious Boy Scouts. But it is, as usual, much richer than that. And, also, worth knowing more about. In weddings at Jesus’ time, the bridesmaids went out to meet the bride, not the bridegroom. Where is she in this tale? Nowhere. And what does the oil stand for? Why can’t the wise maidens share theirs with the foolish maidens? And how can the bridegroom, whom we assume stands for Christ, say to the foolish who come late, I do not know you? Are we not all known to the Lord, even down to the hairs on our head?
Obviously the wait for the bridegroom is central and we are right to associate him with Jesus whose second coming we all expect. And both wise and foolish appear to look forward to that. It is the oil that goes deeper than a skimming of the parable will tell. Many are they who who believe in the Lord, but not all have lived faithfully. The oil is clearly the stuff of faith, the daily preparations to have enough stored to keep us supplied at the end. They say a family should always have six months of food on hand. In the same way, a Christian should always be storing up provender for the long haul.
Faith is not a set of beliefs only. Jesus tells many he has healed that they have been healed because of their faith. I take him to mean their actions. They have come to him to ask for healing, they have shown by their actions that their faith is what Martin Luther called a “busy, active thing.” We are not talking trying to save onself by works, but rather having been saved there is no other option but to do what the Lord requires. And in doing so, finding the resources to supply one, the oil, for those times when we will not be able to stock up.
My mother, whose piety went deep, as did her razor sharp mind, would often note that some of the most Christian seeming people in the congregation, on being asked for their favorite bible verses would rattle off easy ones like “Jesus wept,” or John 3:16. And would do it every time without seeming to have gone deeper. While one could argue they were enough, it was a matter of some concern to her that these believers were not accessing the depths of the Scriptures and their Christian faith to last through the hard times. Like the seed falling on stony ground, or among thistles, their faith would perish without good soil, well watered and rich in sunshine.
Without that constant refreshment in God’s Word, where we meet the bridegroom, we will not be known to him when we knock on the doors after the party has started. Like the wedding guest who presumes he can come to the party on his own terms, the foolish maidens cannot really expect to be known when they try to enter if they haven’t gotten acquainted with him during their lives. Watch and be ready! No one knows the day nor hour!
HYMN INFO
Philip Nicolai was born in Mengeringhausen in Waldeck, Hesse. His father was a Lutheran pastor who lived through the early Reformation times. Nicolai faced theological battles himself, fired from his pastorate in Herdecke because of the Counter-Reformation. He received a doctorate from Wittenberg University, where Luther had taught, and after that came to Unna in Westphalia. There he wrote these two great chorales, texts and tunes, included in his book, The Mirrror of Joy. In 1601 he received a call to St. Katherine’s church in Hamburg. Some put him in the tradition of Hans Sachs the Meistersinger who wrote both texts and tunes. Bach wrote two fine cantatas on them. Many use this as an Advent hymn, but the church thinks it fits best with the end of the church year.
LINKS
St. Olaf Christmas Festival singing Christiansen’s anthem
Bach’s Cantata 140 Wachet Auf! Ruft uns die Stimme Netherlands Bach Society
Chorale Organ Prelude on Wachet Auf! BWV 645
Danish choir singing cantata on hymn by Raastad
Norwegian/Pastor’s Wang's Jazz group
The hymn below was written for my collection of hymn texts on the Revised Common Lectionary.
NB Time for Christmas presents. Check out my sonnets The Sword of Eden: Eve and Mary Speak for Mary's view of her son's birth, life and death. https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Eden-Eve-Mary-Speak-ebook/dp/B07GDT16RN/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=QJTLt&content-id=amzn1.sym.ac827e48-2948-4721-83ef-3e7648ac35cb&pf_rd_p=ac827e48-2948-4721-83ef-3e7648ac35cb&pf_rd_r=142-9072151-7203115&pd_rd_wg=r7VxZ&pd_rd_r=2d486577-cff0-4c4e-aa84-83268248e8f7
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